Sauron,
I would like to see you try. Leave it to a christian to suggest a violent means to and end. Do you shoot abortion doctors as well? A man of wealth, taste, and dementia. What a combination!
Although, if your experiment were to be carried out on you and myself, I’ll bet my brain would be larger. That’s probably just because mine gets more use.
Well, at least we won’t have to waste any money on that potentially groundbreaking cranium/rectum experiment. Thanks for letting us know that before we proceeded further.
Musicguy:
Here on the SDMB we poke holes in the arguments of all kinds of people who have bad arguments - some of them are fundamentalist Christians, some of them are guys who spend too much time thinking about penises. We do this by coming up with better and more logical arguments, not by spreading puerile religious prejudices.
Or you could be hydrocephalic. Not accusing, just pointing out optional hypotheses. Scientists often do this, you know.
Hmmmmm. Seems we have another situation where musicguy simply cannot be bothered to pay attention to what people write. When Sauron posted about how we should study whether musicguy’s craniorectal inversion could possibly someday be cured, musicguy inexplicably assumed it was some sort of violent threat.
Bizarre.
As a non-Christian, I would like to advise you to shut the hell up. You don’t know what you’re talking about, and your statements are on a level with any racist glurge I’ve ever heard.
Let me repeat: I am not a Christian. Yet I know, from talking to people, as well as reading here, that many Christians believe in evolution, many Christians are pro-choice, many Christians are scientists, and many Christians are more open-minded than you. I know that I’m repeating what somebody else said; I also know that it didn’t sink in last time. I’m hoping repetition will work.
musicguy, I think I get your joke.
It’s all very subtle and ironic. No wonder everyone else here missed it. You are brilliant and incisive.
Well, either that or you’re a complete fucking idiot wasting time before your high school classes start up again.
One of the two.
Hello, musicguy. I am a Christian. However I am also human, so please bear with me as I call you an asshole.
Stop this stupid over-generalizitaion. Because first off, the story of creation is not limited to the Christians. It was the Jews’ idea first. Some (note I said some, not all) Christians tend to be more vocal about it. “Christian” is not one religion. We do not all think alike. I disagree vehemently with Mormons, Fundies, and much of Catholic doctrine along with many other denominations. I do not go to any specific church because I don’t think any one denomination has gotten it right yet. I don’t think I’ve got it quite right either, but it works for me.
I believe the earth is billions of years old. I believe life evolved on this planet. I believe homosexuality is not evil. I am pro-choice. I believe in sex education in the schools. I believe the Bible is a book, and as such open to a wide variety of interpretation since all other books I’ve read use metaphor and symbolism to get their points across and not meant to be taken literally.
I cannot stand the close-minded attitude that some Christians have to science, nor can I stand the contempt some scientists have for Christians. You don’t have to agree, but you don’t have to belittle us either. You have the same distgusting self-righteous attitude you accuse the Christians of. You choose to believe in evolution the same as they choose to believe in creation. Guess what, maybe you’re both wrong, did that ever occur to you? Probably not, because you are so secure in your absolute knowledge of your scientific righteousness that the possiblity of being wrong is inconceivable. Sound familiar? Maybe like the Fundies who are so filled of thier own self-righteousness that they put bumper stickers on their cars that say “In Case of Rapture This Car will be Unmanned.”
And Acco40. In regards to the subject line alone: Hypocricy of Christianity in regard to stem cells. What?! Christians can be hypocritical at times? What a fucking news flash! Why, that would make them, what, human, I guess, huh? And as such subject to human flaws, such as not being correct 100% of the time, maybe even being misguided from time to time. Wow, I never realized that! Yes, many Christians can be hypocritical, many bad things have been done in the name of religion, many “Christians” are not people I would want as role models for my kids.
But don’t get all holier-than-thou yourself and condemn the whole for the acts of the few with whom you’ve interacted.
Boy, don’t insult a christian, they get violent. I’m sure your god is very proud of you.
And Waverly, yes, it is very evident that you are not always nice. Are you ever?
Lemurr: (or is that lemming)
you say “many christians believe in evolution” ???
You are kidding, right?
I doubt that Lemurr is kidding, and furthermore, I suppose, also they are correct.
What you seem to be assuming is that anyone who identifies themselves as a Christian, must also suscribe to 100% of what you presume to be the ideology of the ‘fundementalist’. Given the number of different sects of Christianity, that’s a pretty broad assumption to make. Hell, even under the classifications of (say) Lutheran, there are ideological differences.
Whenever one makes an attempt to define all of the beliefs of any particular individual based on their self identification with a group, there are problems.
See also: Republican/Democrate; Liberal/Conservative etc.
And where exactly did anyone get violent? I see no instances of anyone threatening harm to you here.
However, your behavior is showing us not to contridict anyone who isn’t religious because they’ll just ignore your comments without bothering to listen.
(Of course I know that’s not entirely true. Just the assholes, which is an affliction beyond race, color, creed, sexual preference, or religious belief.)
**
More evidence that you are just talking out of your ass and are not bothering to read anything that’s been said to you. You are as close-minded as the people you rail against.
Why is it only the total fucking idiots who insist on calling me a Christian?
Crunchy Frog,
So, Christianity isn’t one religion? Hmm, interesting concept. And did you ever consider that I stated I was generalizing? I know there are exceptions. I would venture to say though that most true Christians would think that you follow a very different religion than they do. I didn’t realize that you were able to make your own rules up as you go. You believe in evolution, homosexuality is fine, the bible is just a book, and people who don’t agree with your unique views are assholes. That sounds like a great religion. Where do I sign up?
Now, could any one of you explain how a Christian can believe in evolution. This is a new concept to me. You do or don’t believe in the bible? Or are you just making it up as you go. This is fascinating
Sigh.
Not all Christians are Biblical literalists, musicguy.
Wow. And I thought it was only a few fundies who subscribed to that whole “Catholics aren’t Christian” crap.
Or were you wholly unaware, mg, that Catholics believe in evolution.
To all of you,
I think you have a right to believe anything you want, about me, about religion, about stem cell research. But as a gay male, I have been ridiculed and persecuted all of my life because of who I am, not what I believe but what I am. That is a generalization. And as a male with Parkinsons disease, I am offended when peoples religious beliefs interfere with scientific research that may someday provide a cure for me. They don’t take a minute to walk in my shoes or try to envision what it must be like. They make blanket statements that this research is wrong without ever thinking about the people this decision affects. You are all so quick to judge. I hope that you and your families lead very healthy lives and are never placed in this situation. I’ve been called every name in the book here, some of it justified. I knew I would get a reaction. But I don’t think any of you are assholes and I think you have all made your points quite elequently. I am mad at “religion” folks, and at the people who follow it blindly, without ever wondering if they are hurting people in the process. Do I think all Christians are bad people? Absolutely not. I personally like the morals that it attempts to convey for the most part. I think that some Christians do a lot of good in this world. But I can still criticize the hippocracy, especially when it affects my life.
So you’re willing to distort facts and misrepresent your own position in pursuit of an agenda.
That makes you worse than any fundy, since you know better.
Shame on you.
Christians can believe in evolution because many of them think that the Biblical creation story is not to be taken literally, that the “days” that God created the earth were not necessarily 24-hour days, there were just named “days” to distinguish them as separate periods.
I can’t believe that you in all your brilliance couldn’t do a search and FIND THIS OUT.
God bless you all the same. 
Sometimes. I actually am not aware of giving any member of this forum more than a good-natured poke, yourself included. Don’t you find it odd that although I’m not religious, in favor of stem cell research, pro-choice, and a scientist that I have no common ground with you? You’ve made some fundamental errors, including but not limited to:[ul]
-attacking people instead of ideas
-not differentiating between the dozens of Christian religions and not stating exactly what tenets they hold that you find so odious.
-making sweeping generalization based on little fact
-failing to digest what others are telling you to the point of rudeness[/ul]
I would much rather carry on a sane discussion with an intelligent fundamentalist than with someone who so blindly injures so many groups (including scientist, by giving others an example of how closed minded they can be).
In short (and I know you need a summary) you have taken a deep draught from the flagon of ignorance, in fact you have swallowed the worm.
BTW - Acco and musicguy, you two may want to read this thread. It was aimed at Teenage Newbies, and although I don’t know how old the two of you are, it seems to qualify as being necessary reading in this case.
Especially important for you to learn are the phrases:
Learn it and live it. Or just shut up already.
Pick one, would ya?
And musicguy - do have have a comprehension problem? I know you were generalizing, but if I made the same sort of negative sweeping generalizations of blacks or gays or women, I’d be flamed and torn to shreds so quickly that… well I don’t know, but pretty fucking quickly.
I’ve already stated that I do not belong to any specific denomination. To me, being a Christian is not about going to church every Sunday and taking the Bible literally, especially a book as old and as translated so many times. To me, being a Christian is trusting that Christ died for my sins (which I do) and behaving in a way that reflects my ideals. Christ himself in the Bible encouraged people to worship their own way. I am not a part of any organized religion, so you cannot “sign up.”
The basic tenents of Christianity (as I see it, I am in no way speaking for all Christians) is that you love you neighbor and love your God. Everything else falls under those two catagories. Stealing is out because that hurts your neighbor, same with lying, killing, etc. Worshipping other God and the like is out because that hurts your God.
I believe in the Bible, just not in a literal interpretation of the Bible (which I’ve also already stated, but you seem to have trouble keeping up). The Bibe only says God created everything, it doesn’t go into detail how it was done. This leaves things wide open to interpretaion to me. And since no where in the Bible does it say “Thou shalt not believe in scientific discoveries” I feel I’m free to think for myself in that matter. So, as you can see, by believing in Christ, I consider myself a Christian, yet by understanding science, I can believe in evolution. The two do not need to be mutually exclusive.
As I said, I am not a member of any organized religion, so in a way, yes, I make it up myself. I try to be a good Christian in my behavior, not by my presence in a church or surrounding myself with like-minded individuals. However I am human and thus subject to human frailties and emotions such as anger and jealousy. When I’ve behaved poorly, I can admit to being wrong and admit to it and apologize in hopes of being forgiven, just as I would forgive someone who wronged me.
I think there is no one right religion, and I doubt my own ideas are the best or right ones, but they work best for me. My religion doesn’t have a name. It is not legally recognized. It is not organized (hell, it’s mine, I can’t even organize my sock drawer).
I think the way I feel about religion can be best explained my the examples of two of my favorite films - Monty Pyhton and The Life of Brian - where the central theme of the film is to think for yourself, do not blindly follow someone else’s beliefs; and Dogma - where it is stated that beliefs are dangerous, and one should have an idea. It’s easier to change an idea than a belief.
And here you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said anyone who disagrees is an asholes, just you. And you’re not an asshole for your beliefs, but for the way you are presenting yourself.
Let me quote myself with some added italics and bolding for emphasis, “Just the assholes, which is an affliction beyond race, color, creed, sexual preference, or religious belief.”
If you don’t believe in God, fine don’t. It’s no skin off my nose. I don’t think everyone has to agree with what I believe. I don’t hold others’ beliefs in contempt. What makes you an asshole is not your lack of religious faith, but your contempt for a vast group of people based on your limited interaction and knowledge of a group of people as a whole.